BOVARD AUDITORIUM was filled to capacity March 30 for the first USC Presidents Distinguished Lecture of the new millennium. The sold-out event featured former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who met with President Steven B. Sample before strolling across campus for a pre-lecture gathering at the Hoose Library.No stranger to USC, Bush was the 1995 recipient of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Developments Julius Award. We honored him for his exceptional heroism during World War II and his extraordinary service to the people of the United States, Sample said in his introduction of the former U.S. president. During his 45-minute talk, Bush discussed contemporary politics, often injecting his signature humor. He tailored his remarks to the university audience, saluting USCs volunteer work in the community and the importance of the Pacific Rim  a focus of the universitys strategic plan.The Presidents Distinguished Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1996 to bring international leaders to USC. Past speakers have included Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Gen. Colin Powell, Shimon Peres, Brian Mulroney and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the inaugural speaker.

Hold the Phone

THE JETSONS may not have cared that callers could see inside their home whenever the phone rang, but real-life Americans arent so uninhibited. Now that technology has caught up with the dream, the videophone has a bleak future, says USC communications expert A. Michael Noll. A self-described former true believer, Noll designed the videophone used in 2001: A Space Odyssey and was on the Bell Labs team that developed AT&Ts picture phone (a $500 million flop) in the early 1970s. People dont want the person on the other end of the line to see their every action, Noll recently told the Salt Lake Tribune. Science fiction movies may be the only real market for videophones.